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How to Introduce Exhibits at Trial

The groundwork for the use of exhibits at trial should happen long before the trial begins. For all of your trial exhibits, think about authentication, the hearsay rule, and the best evidence rule. Try to establish the foundational elements required for your exhibits before trial by stipulation, with the use of requests for admission, or during evidence depositions. Since these foundational elements depend on the nature of the exhibit and what you are using it for, you'll have to do further research on what the precise elements for each exhibit actually are.

Once you're at trial, there is no strict requirement that documents, if otherwise admissible, must be sponsored by a particular witness. As a practical matter, however, your documents will almost always come in through your trial witnesses. After the exhibit is marked and a copy has been provided to the judge and the opposing counsel, proceed like this:

Mr. Witness, I'm handing you what's been marked Exhibit 10 for identification. Have you seen this before?

At this point, if the foundational elements have not been stipulated to by your opponent, you will ask the witness questions to establish the foundation, then say--

The Defendant offers Exhibit 10.

The judge will ask if there are any objections. If so, you can state your position and the judge make a ruling. If not, the judge will admit the exhibit. After that, you can use it in further questioning.

Comments

What do you do if your client has those copies of cancelled checks that banks issue now, rather than the actual checks? My client's bank destroys the original checks and gives her a sheet with 16 small copies to a page.

Do I have to subpoena the actual checks or a bank employee to authenticate them?

Are you trying to authenticate the information your client placed on the check, or the information that banks subsequently placed on the check while processing it? It seems like most of the time FRE 1003 and FRE 1004(1) (or the state equivalents) would allow admission of the copies through the client.